In the art of workpiece handling, such as metal working, many types of time saving dies and fixtures are used for aligning and locating tools. Although fixtures and dies can be expensive to fabricate, the time that is saved reduces labor costs sufficiently to make their use advantageous and cost effective.
Most dies and fixtures have a specific function. That is, they are useful only in a single or limited manufacturing procedure and/or with a single machine tool or system. For example, a subplate assembly and tooling set up for a routing and cutting machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,215, issued to Coope et al, on Feb. 14, 1978, entitled SUB PLATE ASSEMBLY FOR MACHINE TOOLS. The subplate assembly of that invention locates and aligns the bushings in the machine tool table and tooling members, eliminating the time usually devoted to the alignment of a piece of work with respect to its directions of movement.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,267, issued on Apr. 12, 1977, to Hawley, entitled METHOD OF DIE CONSTRUCTION USING JOINT STRUCTURE, a series of die parts is precisely located upon a common die shoe to locate the die part on the shoe with respect to other die parts and with respect to the shoe. The assembly reduces the time required to assemble and precisely locate die parts on the die shoe. The fixture holds tolerances to ten thousandths of an inch.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,225, issued on Aug. 4, 1998 to Iwata et al., entitled BASE AND FIXTURE TO BE USED IN MACHINING OPERATION, a machining device is disclosed in which a fixture is disposed on a base which, in turn, is disposed on a pallet. Essentially, the present invention eliminates the need for a dedicated base, yet can be used to perform the same functions addressed by Iwata.
The present invention seeks to expand the usefulness of metal working plate sleeves, so that they are portable and interchangeable with a master bushing. The sleeves introduced into the master bushing provide alignment and securement of work pieces. The master bushing is also designed to receive different sized screws and locating dowels or pins by the use of these removable inserts. Specifically designed cylindrical locators with clearance holes through the center for screws or studs provide the unique capability of locating and accepting differently sized studs or screws.